Kevin's dad stood up and walked around behind his wife. He stared down at his son, and then suddenly pulled him up and gave him a big hug. Kevin looked astonished.
"Son, I am so proud of you," his dad said. His voice shook with emotion. "Here we were giving you a hard time, but you were just being a really good friend." He released Kevin and turned to me. "Thank you for being so open with us, Steve. I'm glad you were able to work everything out, and I'm glad we were able to help—even if we didn't know it. I'm glad we have this all cleared up."
Kevin's mom was still looking at me with some suspicion in her eyes. She cleared her throat. "Dave, don't you think we should pay Steve something for cleaning up the house so nicely for us?"
"Oh, that's okay," I interjected, waving my hands in fro
